Timothy Hudson has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of aggravated sexual abuse and first-degree murder tied to the November 2025 death of Anna Kepner, the 18-year-old high school student found dead in a cabin aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship.
Hudson waived his appearance for Wednesday's arraignment in federal court in Miami, and his attorneys were set to enter the plea on his behalf. Prosecutors are asking that he be held in custody pending trial.
Kepner was found dead on Nov. 7, 2025, in international waters as the ship was heading back to PortMiami. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner ruled that she died from manual asphyxiation. Records in an unrelated case said she was found wrapped in a blanket under the bed.
The case has drawn attention because it began in juvenile court before prosecutors moved it into adult court. Hudson was originally charged as a juvenile in February and was released into the custody of an uncle under a court agreement, but after the ship returned to PortMiami he was transferred to a medical facility. Under the conditions of his release, he is allowed to leave the home in his uncle's custody and cannot be alone with anyone younger than 18 years old.
Hudson, Kepner and her 14-year-old half-brother stayed in the same cabin on the cruise, while her father, stepmother and grandparents were in other cabins. Kepner was on the trip with her grandparents, father, stepmother, stepbrother and half-brother.
An online obituary described Kepner as a high school senior at Temple Christian School in Titusville, Florida, and said she hoped to join the U.S. Navy after graduation and eventually become a K9 police officer. It also said she was known as “Anna Banana” and that she “filled the world with laughter, love, and light that reached everyone around her.”
Details in unrelated court records said Hudson's mother told authorities he took medication for ADHD and insomnia, and that he did not take it for two days while on the cruise, including the day before Kepner's body was found. Those same records said text messages captured Hudson repeatedly saying he could not remember anything about what had happened.
The next step is the custody fight: whether Hudson remains detained as the case moves toward trial in federal court, where the adult charges now put the teenager at the center of one of the most closely watched cruise-ship death cases of the year.
